Yep, be sure to measure the actual size. A 50 gal tank made 20 years ago will likely be smaller than a 50 gal tank today. The latest round of mandated insulation standards have led some people to go down a notch or two in capacity so they could still fit the WH in the same closet. Doesn't matter that you'd prefer a different, slimmer one like you used to have, and the manufacturer and retailer would both like to sell you one--they can't be sold....

Sure enough the new 50 gal water heater at Home Depot is 23 inches diameter whereas the old one is 20.5 inch diam. But no problem with flexible Sharkbites ( he said hopefully).

I broke down and called an HVAC place for an estimate. Just to replace my 50 gal electric with a Brad and White 50 gal, ground level, minimal changes to piping, easy access to WH, would be $1,150. Wow.

I then asked him what it would cost if I had my own new WH sitting there, for him to install, and he said..... $500. What?

Well, at least he was willing to talk to me about WH's. He said Rheem was a decent brand, and that Sharkbites were fine, and that he uses them himself if the customer requests it.

He thought the pressure relief valve leak at the threads that I have could be a crack (don't know if he meant in valve itself or in the metal tank. He must have meant the valve.)

Still can't get the TPR valve off. I held a propane flame to it for a few minutes and that didn't help. Still stuck.

Just had a new thought. Maybe I could apply some semihardening sealant around the threads. I think the PSI inside the tank wouldn't get much above normal water pressure (50 psi?) . I have the temp set at 170 degrees.

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Just had a new thought. Maybe I could apply some semihardening sealant around the threads. I think the PSI inside the tank wouldn't get much above normal water pressure (50 psi?) . I have the temp set at 170 degrees.

You've tried penetrating "buster" on it with a little heat, let it sit overnight, and still no luck? Maybe your sealant idea will work (perhaps some RTV after cleaning the area thoroughly). I think it would be a long shot. If you haven't done it already, I'd buy a cheap water alarm and put it in the pan under the WH (it's in a pan, right? ). If a threaded neck is cracked (or, more likely, the nipple is corroded), a leak could become a gusher very quickly and you'd want to know about that right away.

If you can't get the drip stopped, there's eventually nothing to lose by putting a big wrench on that thing and probably a cheater, and giving it a turn. Obviously, if you can get a pipe wrench or some vice grips on the male fitting at the tank and turn the other way at the same time, it will reduce the chance of twisting off the fitting and (probably) destroying the WH. But before you go crazy, make sure you've shopped for water heaters already, you know the place you'd like to buy it already has one in stock, and you've got a plan for installing it.

Sure enough the new 50 gal water heater at Home Depot is 23 inches diameter whereas the old one is 20.5 inch diam. But no problem with flexible Sharkbites ( he said hopefully).

I broke down and called an HVAC place for an estimate. Just to replace my 50 gal electric with a Brad and White 50 gal, ground level, minimal changes to piping, easy access to WH, would be $1,150. Wow.

I then asked him what it would cost if I had my own new WH sitting there, for him to install, and he said..... $500. What?

Well, at least he was willing to talk to me about WH's. He said Rheem was a decent brand, and that Sharkbites were fine, and that he uses them himself if the customer requests it.

....

The size difference only matters in how close it is to walls, and of course the water connections. So if you have lots of room as in extra inches around it then no worries.

Call around a few places, as I got that at one place $500 when I had my own tank, and then the next place was $250.
Whoever you think you will use, check them with BBB or some review place to see they are ok.

The job at my place to hard solder in the water pipes and use the black iron pipe to connect the gas (and install a new gas shutoff I had purchased) took almost 2 hours.

It would have been cheaper by the hour, which is why none of them work like that for water heaters.

Update. Finally got the valve off! Then discovered what looks like vertical crack in threads of tank. Also, believe it or not, a vertical crack in the PTR valve threads ! Just for kicks, I wrapped some teflon tape around the TPR and screwed it back in. Water now is not coming out the top of the valve threads, but is still oozing in on the top of the tank around the bottom of the nipple(?) (the raised part that has the hole in it) that accepts the TPR. I think the tank might be cracked there. Can't actually see any crack there, but the water is coming from somewhere. I am looking through a hole from a plastic poput that I removed, that lets me shine a light onto the center of the top of the tank, where the TPR is. Tried to remove the whole top of the unit so I can see the entire top of the tank to see where the leak is, but seems to be a major PITA. May be new water heater time.

Agreed - that valve is going to be the typical tapered pipe thread style, and as you tighten them, they exert a lot of force trying to expand that joint. Any sort of band aid fix would be poor, you really can't fix something like that easily.

You could clean it up and try to get JB-WELD in there everywhere and screw it shut and give it 24 hours. But I would not.

Yep. It will probably be problematic from this point forward, and maybe in a very inconvenient way. Right now you've got time to shop for a new one and figure out the best way to get it installed. That's what I'd do.
It sounds like at least you got lots of years of use out of it.
We get tremendous value from our appliances (and utilities). The >amazing< convenience of hot water every day for less than 50 cents/day. A machine that washes clothes (an hour-long drudgery if done by hand) for about 50 cents per load. We live far better (and longer) than royalty of old.

Sure enough the new 50 gal water heater at Home Depot is 23 inches diameter whereas the old one is 20.5 inch diam. But no problem with flexible Sharkbites ( he said hopefully).

I broke down and called an HVAC place for an estimate. Just to replace my 50 gal electric with a Brad and White 50 gal, ground level, minimal changes to piping, easy access to WH, would be $1,150. Wow.

I then asked him what it would cost if I had my own new WH sitting there, for him to install, and he said..... $500. What?

Well, at least he was willing to talk to me about WH's. He said Rheem was a decent brand, and that Sharkbites were fine, and that he uses them himself if the customer requests it.

He thought the pressure relief valve leak at the threads that I have could be a crack (don't know if he meant in valve itself or in the metal tank. He must have meant the valve.)

Still can't get the TPR valve off. I held a propane flame to it for a few minutes and that didn't help. Still stuck.

Just had a new thought. Maybe I could apply some semihardening sealant around the threads. I think the PSI inside the tank wouldn't get much above normal water pressure (50 psi?) . I have the temp set at 170 degrees.

Home Depot has installers, have you called them for a quote as well. An independent plumber needs typically needs the margin on the water heater as well to break even. Note that an install might also result in a new floor pan around the heater.

I was walking by when my sprinkler system was on since I reset it at the wrong time... need to put in a new 9V backup battery.... but need a rechargeable one...

Saw that water was flowing from near the sidewalk and one of our flower beds... so dug up a bit and found a plastic piece was broken... today I dug it up more so I can get at that piece... but NO.. it broke off close to the PVC pipe and I cannot get it out... either need to get a tap tool or find some other way to get inside that little piece and work it out....

NOW, the bad part.... there were LOTS of roots going back and forth near this area.... and low and behold.... so was a wire for my low voltage lighting!!! Somehow I messed that up and instead of 8 lights on the front of the house I have a total of 2 working

I ordered all the parts and fluids, and yesterday and today changed all the fluids and filters in my little diesel tractor. The front tires were already badly dried and cracked when I moved overseas 5 years ago, and when I got back they were dried, cracked, and flat. I ordered new tires, but when I got the old ones off found that the inside of the wheels were badly rusted (the tractor began its life in a Japanese rice paddy). So I googled around and finally found a pair of rims that aren't a perfect match but should bolt on and work. So now I'm waiting for the UPS guy to deliver the rims before I can get the tractor going and till the weeds an the back yard.

I was walking by when my sprinkler system was on since I reset it at the wrong time... need to put in a new 9V backup battery.... but need a rechargeable one...

Saw that water was flowing from near the sidewalk and one of our flower beds... so dug up a bit and found a plastic piece was broken... today I dug it up more so I can get at that piece... but NO.. it broke off close to the PVC pipe and I cannot get it out... either need to get a tap tool or find some other way to get inside that little piece and work it out....

NOW, the bad part.... there were LOTS of roots going back and forth near this area.... and low and behold.... so was a wire for my low voltage lighting!!! Somehow I messed that up and instead of 8 lights on the front of the house I have a total of 2 working

Irrigation systems are a PITA! I've had many issues similar to what you've got. And at our FL house all the pipes are 6" or less underground, since it never freezes down there. It seems every time I stick anything into the ground I break a pipe, either irrigation or home water supply. And tree roots! My go to digging tool has become a sawzall. Good luck.

__________________"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Anonymous (not Will Rogers or Sam Clemens)DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets

Irrigation systems are a PITA! I've had many issues similar to what you've got. And at our FL house all the pipes are 6" or less underground, since it never freezes down there. It seems every time I stick anything into the ground I break a pipe, either irrigation or home water supply. And tree roots! My go to digging tool has become a sawzall. Good luck.

LOL... .the time I fixed a pipe in the back yard a few years back I got out the sawzall to cut through a one inch 'root'..... but found out that it was a Comcast cable in conduit that was less than 6 inches underground!!! It cut right through the conduit and cable... twice... since I had not noticed it was not a root on my first cut ....

They actually tried to bill me for the repair

BTW, was using a lopper to cut roots... and STILL cut my light system wire.... I have not been lucky when going below ground...

Have a Toyota 4R with a really ugly torn seat bottom on the drivers side near the door, seems to be a common issue on older Toyota's and has bugged me for a while. After some research I discovered that I could swap out the driver and passengers seat bottoms. On the passenger side it hides the tear as it is up against the console. took me several hours to remove both seats and swap out the bottom skins so I wouldn't mess with the air bag sensor on the passenger side. Well worth the effort IMO, local shop estimated $500+ to replace one bottom with no confidence in match.

__________________"One of the big secrets of finding time is not to watch television" -- Captain Kangaroo

LOL... .the time I fixed a pipe in the back yard a few years back I got out the sawzall to cut through a one inch 'root'..... but found out that it was a Comcast cable in conduit that was less than 6 inches underground!!! It cut right through the conduit and cable... twice... since I had not noticed it was not a root on my first cut ....

They actually tried to bill me for the repair

BTW, was using a lopper to cut roots... and STILL cut my light system wire.... I have not been lucky when going below ground...

Might be more work than you're willing to put-in, but here's what I did with a signal cable (coax), and it's still working.

Created a "boat" out of aluminum foil and put it under the wire (while in the ground, exactly where it would be after I put dirt around it). Then I melted some soft wax (in a tin can in the garage), then came out to the hole and filled-up the aluminum foil "boat" with the wax, entirely covering the connector and wires going into the connector. Then I buried it, trying not to move it at all while doing so.

The way I'd splice a low voltage wire is to slide on a piece of shrink tubing away from the break, solder the wire, then slide the shrink tube over the soldered joint, then hit the shrink tape with a hair dryer or heat gun. Do each wire separately.

Not really a repair but a maintenance item. Always do my own oil changes as I know it's done right (some not so good oil changes done by "professionals" in the past) and I like doing the work. But...the oil changes on my wife's Toyota 4Runner are quite the task. A 22 step process believe it or not! Took me about 90 minutes start to finish. I know some Porsches are crazy but surprised at the work needed for this Toyota.

The way I'd splice a low voltage wire is to slide on a piece of shrink tubing away from the break, solder the wire, then slide the shrink tube over the soldered joint, then hit the shrink tape with a hair dryer or heat gun. Do each wire separately.

Wrap with silicone tape such as Scotch 70 before shrinking the tubing for better waterproofing.

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